Eduard Hecht 1832 - 1887

[giles.enders]

Eduard (Edward) Hecht  Born 28.11.1832 Durkheim im Haardt, Bavaria   Died 7.3.1887 Manchester, England

He initially studied in Frankfurt with his musician father Heinrich, who taught singing, and subsequently with Jacob Rosenhain, Christian Hauff and F. Messer.  He came to England in 1854 and settled in Manchester.  From his early days there, he was involved with Charles Halle's concerts as his chorus master and deputy conductor. He was involved with several choral societies in the area, including The Manchester Liedertafel from 1859-1878, The Stretford Choral Society and The St.Celia Choral Society. He also lectured and had a substantial private practice as a piano teacher.

Some of his choral works achieved great popularity and were performed for many years.  For over three decades he devoted his life to enhancing the music scene in Manchester.  He had five children* and left an estate valued at £14,358.  A considerable sum for the time.

Orchestral

Symphony  1877
Piano Concerto

Band

'Manchester' march for military band
March - elegy in memory of Bishop Fraser

Chamber

String Quartet  Op.27/1
String Quartet  Op.27/2

Piano

Three pieces  Op.2
Three caprice-mazurkas  Op.3  1855   pub. by Schott
Three capriccios in march form  Op.5
Three reveries  Op.6
Two pieces  Op.11
Impromptu - Windmung  Op.12
Polonaise  Op.17
A Lullaby  Op.19
Sonata
'A little Ghost Story' 
Piano pieces  Op.23 & 24

Song

Three part songs  Op.1
Three songs  Op.4
'Be strong to hope, oh Heart'  trio for female voices  words by Adelaide  A Proctor  Op.7   pub. by Novello
'Leonore'  Op.8
Two songs  Op.13
Two songs  Op.14
'At Night'  part song for five voices  words by T Moore  Op.15  1876
Trio for female voices  Op.16
Four vocal duets  Op.18
'A Farewell'  words by Adelaide  A Proctor
'A Flight of love'  words by Percy Bysshe Shelley  1876
'The Fountain'  words by James Russell Lowell
'Give' words by Adelaide A Proctor
'Innocent child and the snow white flower'  words by William C Bryant
'A Lament for Summer'  duet  words by Adelaide A Proctor
'Life' duet
'A Lilly though wast'  words by L Robert Lowell
'Longing'  words by Mathew Arnold
'The Lord is my Shepherd'  23rd Psalm
'Love's warning'  words by William C Bryant
'The Moorland Witch'  four part song words by Edwin Waugh
'Morning Song' words by G T Stricker
'An old song'  words by Johann G Jacobi
'The Prince of Youth'  words by Sir Walter Scott
'Sweet Spring tide'  words by Friedrich von Bodenstedt
'To Delia'  words by Robert Burns
'Two Lovers'  four part song  words by Georg Eliot  Op.26
'Ye Gallant men of England'  four part song.  Op.28/1
'The Wind'  words by Adelaide A Proctor
'Morgens steh'ich auf und frage' words by Heinrich Heine

Vocal

'Eric the Dane' cantata  words by R M Mclean
'O' may I join the choir invisible'  cantata for chorus, solo quartet and orchestra  Op.25  1883 words by Georg Eliot   pub. by Novello
'Hunting Song for chorus and orchestra  Op.9
'The Charge of the Light Brigade'  for chorus and orchestra  words by Tennyson  Op.10  1879   pub. by Novello

*
Charles Hecht  1865- 5.3.1942
Ernest Hecht  10.1867- 17.10.1932  married Amy Jaques
Adelaide Hecht 26.7.1869 - 25.9.1952  married Edgar Morris
John Sebastian Hecht 30.3.1871 - 22.10.1952 married Noel Atkinson
Dora Hecht 1873- 11.10.1950

[eschiss1]

Georg Eliot? Not George Eliot? (A similarly pseudonymous German male cousin, perhaps?)

Worldcat lists in a library a 4-part song (part of a set?) Op.28 No.1, "Ye Gallant Men of England", by "Edward Hecht".  (Some of his early works after settling in England were still published by CF Kahnt Nachfolger, but I think he used English publishers after a while.)
Interesting, though, a Rosenhain student. Hadn't heard of Hauff before- Messer maybe rings the slightest of bells, maybe not...

(Adelaide A Proctor would be Adelaine Anne Proctor (1825-64) - see Wikipedia and Wikiquote e.g.)

Re Morning Song: text originally in German (Morgenlied), translated into English by someone with a vaguely familiar-sounding name (Troutbeck). (Another slight amendment   - Op.10 is chorus/orch, not a cappella, not that you said it was.)


(Nothing by him at IMSLP yet, though we do have one item at IMSLP by Gustav Hecht (1851-1932) - perhaps a close relation, I don't know.)

[Gareth Vaughan]

"Oh, may I join the choir invisible" is a poem by the Victorian novelist, George Eliot (otherwise known as Mary Ann Evans)

[eschiss1]

Ah, ok.

Did Hecht compose (a setting of) "The Bird and the Maiden"? The Library of Congress has such a work attributed to -an- Edward Hecht, text by Robert Reinick and published by Ditson of Boston, digitized, but that doesn't mean it's the same fellow...